Stirring Questions -- A Review of Stirring Wishes by Tara Manderino

Elise has only one goal in mind: to make this the best possible Christmas for her younger brother, Harry. Lord Richard Stilton likes having his home to himself. The last thing he appreciates is his brother bringing in a frozen waif. Her appearance at his home hasn't changed him—or has it?

Stirring Wishes is a sweet novella set in Regency England just before Christmas.  Elise is on her way home from making a deposit on her Christmas pudding account at the grocer’s and is wondering if she’ll have money to buy enough currants and raisins to make the pudding really special for her family, when she awakens in the home of Lord Richard Stilton unable to remember who she is or where she belongs.  Lord Richard values his privacy, but the chit who has invaded it seems to show surprising glimpses of gentility. Just who is this young lady and why does she seem so… familiar?

This book was warm and engaging and kept my attention from the beginning to end.  The pacing was tight and the ending had a nice surprise twist that was Kleenex-worthy. 

I enjoyed this book for the most part, and would recommend it to friends, but I had one major question—how did Elise end up half frozen lying on the side of the road?  I wish the author had shown the accident as it happened.  She picked up a coin in the snow, debated whether to go back to the shop to deposit or to go home, decided to go home so she wouldn’t be late, there was a scene break, and then Lord Richard’s brother found her half-dead lying by the side of the road.  Since Elise awakens with amnesia, keeping us guessing about how she ended up on the side of the road may well be the author’s way of adding to her mystery.

Flying Kite, Crashing Ship by Krista D. Ball

 
Blurb:

Crashing Time Ship.
The Space Commission hot on her trail.
French spies and flying kites.
For Dr. Sally Pescan, this can’t be good.

Dr. Sally Pescan was on a routine trip studying geology in pre-historic North America. She regretted not taking piloting lessons when the time-ship she was aboard crashed.  To make matters worse, it crashed at a time when people didn’t fly, women weren’t doctors, and they certainly did not wear trousers!

Miss Amanda Grey was having tea with Colonel Lindsey, a potential suitor whose boring manners did not bode well for a match.  Nor did his cowardice when an over-large flying kite crashed in a corner of the garden.  Miss Grey was the curious one who walked over to investigate, the Colonel, a “hero of India,” trailing in her wake.

This little sci-fi story is only twenty-four pages long, but it’s delightful.  It’s a wonderful contrast between the restraints women lived under during the Regency era and modern women. Proper young ladies during the Regency era had to hide their intelligence and obey strict rules of etiquette. Miss Amanda grabbed cookies when the Colonel wasn’t looking.  Modern/futuristic Dr. Sally the professor wore slacks and travelled alone with her pilot, calling him by his first name.  Why, I’ll bet she could even eat cookies in front of him and gulp her tea if she desired!

Flying Kite Crashing Ship is another wonderful waiting-room read from MuseItUp Publications, Inc. 

Excerpt:

Amanda did not notice the lady until she touched the smooth metal of the flying kite’s hull. It was obvious the female occupant had noticed her presence, as she began shouting at a gentleman who arrived from the floor hatch. The thick metal skewed their language, but Amanda recognized it as an ancient dialect of French.

“Hello?” Amanda tapped on the window. The occupants stared at her wide-eyed for several seconds before they resumed yelling at each other. They stepped away from the windows and their words became unintelligible.

“Colonel, you must come see,” she urged. “There is a French lady inside, with a man. I assume it’s either her husband or brother, by the liberties she was taking with her speech. And look, she is wearing trousers. How scandalous!” She had never seen a woman in trousers before.

“French!” Colonel Lindsay paled. He pointed at the maidservant standing off to one-side. “Girl, fetch the militia at once! The French have invaded Devonshire!”

Buy Link:  https://museituppublishing.com/bookstore2/index.php?page=shop.product_details&flypage=flypage.tpl&product_id=61&category_id=7&option=com_virtuemart&Itemid=1

The Vital Principle by Amy Corwin -- Regency Done Right!

 

I love the Regency era, but rarely read it anymore because it drives me crazy to read so-called regency books filled with modern idiom and behavior that no proper young English woman of that era would allow.  I cringed when I opened this e-book and saw that I was reviewing a Regency mystery.  I waited for the anomalous language or behavior but it never came. Much to my surprise, Ms. Corwin does Regency right!  I wonder whether she created her professional psychic, Prudence Barnard, or channeled her.

Miss Barnard is a genteel spinster whose father left her very little except the ability to become a “professional” houseguest.  She makes the rounds of country houses contacting the spirits of the dearly departed and assuring their loved ones that they are, indeed, happy and comfortable on the other side.

Knighton Gaunt, founder of Second Sons Inquiries, is hired by the very disagreeable Lord Crowley to prove Miss Barnard a charlatan, and finds himself investigating Lord Crowley’s murder, instead.  Did Miss Barnard do it?  Or one of the other houseguests?  There were thirteen people at the table that night.  Oh, and a maid in the corner.  Gaunt is the only one in the room he knows did not put poison in Lord Crowley’s brandy.

That’s the other thing about me.  I usually figure out who did it at least halfway through the book.  Ms. Corwin kept me guessing right up until the very end.  I’m glad this is the first book in a series.  I will be reading more of Ms. Corwin’s books.  I’ve found a new favorite author, and a Regency mystery writer, at that!

Buy Links:

Amazon:  http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004OR1GQ2/ref=cm_cr_mts_prod_img

Barnes & Noble:  http://search.barnesandnoble.com/The-Vital-Principle/Amy-Corwin/e/2940012291776/?itm=1&USRI=the+vital+principle

A Wing and a Prayer by Ginger Simpson

 

First Impressions aren’t always what they seem. Just ask Callie Corwin.

On a 747, Callie Corwin, buckles up for her first day as a flight attendant. The full jet carries two passengers who stand out from the others, but for totally different reasons. The handsome cowboy promises to be a pleasant distraction from her performance anxiety, but the dark-skinned gentleman a few rows back sends her up her hackles. She’s been trained on how to recognize a terrorist, and he fits the very description. Will she see jolly old England or the bottom of the sea?

This is a very short read—only nineteen pages, but Ms. Simpson introduces us to Callie and builds the suspense at a nice pace from the first bump of turbulence to the final confrontation between her eye-candy cowboy and the surly, swarthy gentleman. The aircraft is definitely in trouble and Callie is right in the middle of it.

I highly recommend this story as a great waiting room read—as long as you aren’t waiting for a flight. ;-)

You can buy A Wing and a Prayer at MuseItUp Publishing, Inc.

Watcher by Dorothy Cox

Simon was a Watcher.  He showed up at the Median one day in 1831.  Somehow he knew which office was his, which souls he was supposed to watch, where to find them, how to observe them and how to write his reports.  The rules were just there in his head.  But so was something else.  A…flaw…that the other Watchers apparently didn’t have.  Simon got bored.  He made up little games to pass the time.  Like when he had to observe one client in a coffee shop.  If he gave the same name and ordered the same thing every day, the staff would notice him.  So he made up a little game.  First, he used the names of signers of the Declaration of Independence.  Until the day Lilly, the cashier, beat him to it.  “William Henry Harrison, right?  You’re doing the Presidents this time.”  That was when they fell in love.  Simon didn’t realize that was what he felt.  He had no experience with feelings.  He was a true innocent.

Normally, when I edit a book I enjoy the story, and then go on to the next one.  It’s pretty hard to surprise me with an ending and very difficult to write a book that will haunt me for weeks to come.  When I finished the first round of Watcher, I did an “I’m on schedule for the deadline” happy dance.  The next day, I woke up crying over the ending and I cried all day.  I cried pretty much through the whole second round of edits, and the third.  I still get chills and teary-eyed when I tell people about this book.  I haven’t read anything this powerful since The Notebook by Nicholas Sparks, or John Grisham’s A Painted House. If you read nothing else this year, be sure to read Watcher.  You have to read Simon and Lily’s story.  It will haunt you…

* * * * *

Watcher

By Dorothy Cox

Paperback:  http://www.classactbooks.com/Watcher_p_237.html

E-Book:  http://www.classactbooks.com/Watcher-by-Dorothy-Cox-Trade_p_240.html